


Strange and Unusual

by kitausuret



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Venom (Comics), Venom: Space Knight
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Iqa has almost None, Massage, Pre-Slash, Rare Pairings, Sparring, Tarna has Intimacy Issues, Touch-Starved, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 09:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17640137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitausuret/pseuds/kitausuret
Summary: After months with the Space Knights, Tarna of Skrullos has tried to find her niche among the team of heroes. Despite everything, she still feels a bit like an outsider. Certainly she is nothing like the fearsome Wugin warrioress Iqa.Or is she?





	Strange and Unusual

**Author's Note:**

> I'd wanted to start Femslash February but life happened. Even so, I'd like to do the prompt fills, even if it takes until like. June. Our first lucky couple is Iqa and Tarna from _Venom: Space Knight_. I love them so much and I have a lot of feelings about that look between them during issue #7. 
> 
> Quick note: as there's almost nothing established about them in canon, I made up pretty much everything, especially for Tarna. Oh, the joy of liking characters from a great series cut off at the knees.

“Yield! I yield.”

Tarna stared up the length of the sword to where her opponent stood triumphant before her. The blade’s tip stayed just a hair’s width from her jugular. Iqa was panting, but she grinned as she twirled her sword away and extended a hand to her sparring partner.

An unusual custom; helping one’s opponent to their feet after a defeat. She grabbed Iqa’s hand and let herself be pulled upright. The Wugin queen’s hand felt warm. Callussed. The leather of her gauntlet was worn soft from years of combat. A warrior, like herself, but a woman of the blade and ancient technique. She had no interest in advanced weaponry or the latest innovations in space technique.

Tarna, on the other hand, had always been entrenched in the might of the Skrull Empire military forces. She liked having technology within arm’s reach; more comfortable with a blaster in her hands than any melee weapon.

They were nothing alike. Warm and cold. A warrior and a soldier. A queen and an outcast.

Iqa’s smile waned a bit. “Tarna? Are you quite all right?”

“I-” She cleared her throat. Tarna stretched a hand out to grab her own weapon from a good six meters across the training room floor. “You have me… winded.” She fiddled with the hilt of it, still foreign-feeling in her hands despite now two full weeks of practicing with Iqa between missions with the Space Knights.

“Then we take a recess.”

Iqa set both swords up on their racks and returned to where Tarna stood awkwardly on the mat. She turned her eyes away, all at once uncomfortable with the way Iqa (and all the snakes that made up her hair) gazed at her.

“I’m sorry, Iqa, I don’t think I-”

“Bladed combat is new to you,” she said gently. Iqa took her hand, turning it palm-up to inspect it. “But you are improving.” She ran a thumb over the surface, sending a weird little thrill that Tarna just as quickly tamped down. “I can feel it in your hands, and I can see it in your eyes. But you need to _relax_.”

“I don’t need to _relax_ , Iqa. I need to focus. I need to keep practicing. I need to be better.”

“Even your hands are wound as tight as 803’s screws. Sit down.”

With a huff, she complied, and sat cross-legged on the mat. Iqa moved behind her and took a seat as well. Tarna glanced over her shoulder to see Iqa removing her leather gauntlets. She sat up straighter, tensing.

“Remove your shirt.”

Her eyebrows shot straight up. “Wh- _Why?_ ”

“Is there not a ritual among your people of using the hands to relax the musculature after training?” She tilted her head. “My mother taught me it, and hers before her.”

Tarna thought back to her years as a soldier for the Empire. In all her years, aside from occasionally being treated by a medic, she had never even considered the idea. The military hierarchy was a battle to the top; rife with corruption and devoid of the honor it had once placed in the highest regard. Dishonor had ultimately driven her away from it and made her an enemy of Skrullos.

“There is not.” She had no qualms about her body, but displaying such vulnerability… The thought frightened her. Even so, she pulled her shirt off and folded it, laying it aside.

“Then I shall teach you,” Iqa said. “Breathe.”

Those warm hands pressed onto her bare skin, the touch electric. Tarna’s eyes flickered shut. How long had it been since another being had touched her like this? Since her Klyntar partner? She relaxed, just a little, as Iqa carefully kneaded out the knots in her back. It shamed her to admit it, but she missed this. The touch. The relaxation. She felt… safe.

Behind her, Iqa chuckled softly. “It is all right to enjoy things, Tarna.”

“Even if they are strange and unusual?”

“Especially,” she said, and paused to place a small kiss on Tarna’s shoulder, “if they are strange and unusual.”

She smiled at that. Life, after all, was change. Maybe it was time to embrace it.


End file.
